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DN can report on a flying exercise that is currently being conducted with US military aircraft, primarily in Swedish airspace.
– We will have hunting licenses and we will ensure that this working group can achieve its objectives. We make sure to do our work through Swedish territory so that they have a safe passage, confirms Commander-in-Chief Micael Bydén for DN.
American fighter plane The F-15 E Strike Eagle has lifted up in the morning from its base at Lakenheath in England. The aircraft was refueled in the air by US tankers of the type KC-135 Stratotanker. When the force approached Sweden, it encountered the Swedish Gripen plan.
In Sweden, special units of the United States Air Force were then joined. Since Monday, they are based on the F 7 air flotilla in Såtenäs with two advanced aircraft of the CV-22 B Osprey type. That fortress also includes the Hercules MC 130-J type transport and tanker trucks.
Photo: Lisa Mattisson
Photo: Adam Ihse / TT
As part of the exerciseBut also as a show of force, whereby parts of the force flew into Gotland and over Visby at low altitude at a quarter past twelve. It then consisted of three F-15s, two CV-22s, and a US Hercules aircraft, as well as two Swedish Gripen aircraft. The Gripen plan escort means that they must protect the force from the attack of an exercise enemy who may threaten it with, for example, fighter jets and air defense robots.
Across the Baltic Sea, Swedish Gripen aircraft were replaced by NATO emergency preparedness Baltic Air Police aircraft. It is the German Eurofighter Typhoon that took over the escort of the force in the last stretch of Estonia. There, the American plane will land special forces in the air. These, in turn, will lead to airstrikes with sharp ammunition from the F-15 aircraft towards training targets in Estonia.
On the way back, the American planes are again escorted by the Swedish Gripen plane and the Osprey plane lands at F 7 in Såtenäs.
The head of the US special forces in Europe is Major General David Tabor, who follows the exercise in Sweden:
– The flyover is a relatively complicated exercise. It gives us great opportunities to gather not only special forces but also conventional forces from various countries, explains David Tabor.
The flight insert is the visible part of the great exercise that the United States Special Forces are conducting this week and next in various places in southern and central Sweden.
From the US side, it stands out that the air exercise in which Sweden, the US, NATO, Germany and Estonia participate shows how countries cooperate in building a collective defense.
– At this moment we practice escort. But it could also have been that they would have needed to do something on Swedish territory, and for which we need help later, emphasizes ÖB Micael Bydén.
Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist (S) says about the flight exercise:
– It is a normal procedure that we follow through Swedish airspace. The exercise we are conducting with the United States is a comprehensive exercise that deals with the defense of Sweden, but it is part of an overall security policy puzzle with respect to our immediate area. It is about contributing to stability and security in our part of Europe, emphasizes Peter Hultqvist.
Photo: Lisa Mattisson
Photo: Lisa Mattisson
Strict confidentiality it has prevailed before when US special forces practiced with their Swedish brothers in arms. This is the largest exercise to date with 225 Americans from various special forces and roughly the same number of Swedes.
Also included are air and naval support units, such as the Visby corvettes and the USS Ross combat robot. In addition to the special forces of the US Air Force, the Green Berets of the US Army and Navy Seals of the Navy participate.
– Our Navy Seals with their boats get experience from the archipelagos, it is extremely valuable. Day by day we learn and improve, and hopefully the Swedes too. We are also building a friendship that lasts much longer than exercises, says Major General Tabor.
The cooperation with the United States is based on a 2015 agreement that Peter Hultqvist signed with Defense Minister Ash Carter in June 2016.
In August of the same year The Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, came to Stockholm and pointed out to “Mr. Putin” that the Swedish territory is inviolable. Then-Defense Minister James Mattis told DN 2017 that the United States would help Sweden in a Russian aggression: “If you get in trouble, we will.”
– We have received this type of American marking in public on two occasions, says the Defense Minister, who places the exercise in a broader context:
– Special units are a resource that can be deployed very early in a conflict situation and have a significant effect. If you can then collaborate with special forces from other countries at an early stage, of course it is an advantage, says Peter Hultqvist.
The defense minister does not want to speculate about what can happen in a crisis or a war process. He rejects that Sweden’s close cooperation with the United States provokes Russia.
– There is no one who has reason to be provoked by our exercise activities. Without our only ambition is respect for international law and rights for ourselves and the other countries in our immediate area, responds Peter Hultqvist.
ÖB from Sweden explaining:
– The point is that tomorrow, or next month or year, it can be real. And then we must have made sure that we can handle this, says Micael Bydén.
In any case, the United States Special Forces seem willing to intervene in Sweden:
– If the political order is given – of course. That’s what we do: follow our political masters, responds Major General David Tabor.
